Well, despite the mixed-to-negative reception of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, the film was still a huge hit. Not quite as successful as the first one (which made over $1 billion worldwide), but the second one did make over $600 million worldwide, so it only seemed natural that a third one would be in the works. However, this time Steven Spielberg decided to step down as director to instead direct A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. Now, Joe Johnston, whose previous credits as director include Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Rocketeer, and Jumanji, was brought in to helm Jurassic Park III. Prior to directing, Johnson actually had experience working in visual effects, having worked on the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as Raiders of the Lost Ark, so he already had a bit of a working relationship with Spielberg. In fact, he even asked Spielberg if he could direct the sequel, and while Spielberg did direct The Lost World, he still had Johnson in mind for a third film. So, with a different director and different writers, how did this sequel turn out?
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Let’s get to the plot of this movie first. So, this time around, we follow Dr. Alan Grant, once again played by Sam Neill, who has now become famous for what happened to him back in the first film. We also learn that, in between movies, Ellie Sattler, one again played by Laura Dern, has married another man and has two kids with him. While at a dig site, Grant is visited by Paul Kirby, played by William H. Macy, who, with his wife Amanda, played by Téa Leoni, is asked to join them as a sort of guide while they go flying over Isla Sorna. Grant initially declines but is convinced by his assistant Billy, played by Alessandro Nivola, when the Kirby’s say they’re willing to fund Grant’s dig site. Dr. Grant reluctantly decides to go along with them, but when he discovers they want to actually land on the island, he tries to get out of it only to be knocked out and waking up on the island. They soon run into the new big bad dinosaur of the movie, the Spinosaurus, who literally towers over the T-Rex and, during their fight scene, actually snaps its neck. The group tries to fly off and escape, but the plane ends up crashing in the forest after hitting the Spinosaurus. Soon after, Grant demands to learn the truth of what’s going on, and we find out that Paul and Amanda are actually divorced, aren’t rich to the point that they could fund Grant’s work, and are on the island to find their son Eric Kirby, played by Trevor Morgan, who ended up stranded on the island after a botched parasailing trip with Amanda’s boyfriend Ben. Now stuck on the island, the group has to find the Kirby’s son, survive on the island, and try to find a way off.
Now, I’m gonna be perfectly honest. This sequel is in NO WAY as good as the original Jurassic Park, but it’s honestly better than The Lost World in my opinion. For one, much like the last movie where it was great having Jeff Goldblum back, here it’s great to have Sam Neill returning as the lead once again. While his character is very similar to how he was in the first movie, he also plays his character as someone going through PTSD and he has a few nightmares about what happened to him back in the first one. There’s a particularly notable one where he wakes up to find a raptor on his plane that says, “Alan!” Of course, this was just his assistant Billy, and while the scene is kind of goofy, contextually it does make sense. Also, much like the first one, I like that they had regular civilians in this one instead of the mercenaries from the second one. Granted, Téa Leoni can get a bit aggravating with her constant yelling and screaming, and William H. Macy does play his part sort of as a doofy sitcom dad, but they do have scenes together where they work as a couple. Plus, Trevor Morgan as the son, much like Lex and Tim from the first film, is pretty likable and can clearly take care of himself. He isn’t some annoying kid who constantly is in danger. In fact, I’d argue that he does more in this movie than his parents do! Like the first film, the effects in this movie, both the practical and CGI, are outstanding. Literally, there are scenes where the CG is blended so well with the practicals that you often can’t tell which is which. And I’ll be honest, I thought the Spinosaurus was kinda cool. Yes, I was pissed to see it kill the T-Rex, but it was a nice way to introduce a new big bad dinosaur, even if this was its only movie.
I will admit that while I did enjoy this movie more than the second one, there are still quite a few problems I had with this one. For one thing, the setup was almost a bit too similar to the previous film, where a returning character from the first film is asked to go back to the island, they refuse, but then they’re told something that makes them reluctantly go. In The Lost World, it was that Malcolm’s girlfriend was there, whereas here, it’s because the Kirby’s offer to fund Grant’s dig, which is actually similar to the setup of the first film. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that this movie, aside from some of the new dinosaurs they introduce here, doesn’t really do much of anything different. Also, with the previous two films, they seemed like B-movies on the surface, but they actually had some kind of message behind them and tackled quite a few issues that are still relevant today. Here, there really isn’t much a lesson to be had, except maybe don’t go to an island inhabited by dinosaurs, be closer to your loved ones, or something like that. This film does play a lot more like a B-movie, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it makes this film at least more enjoyable than the second one, but even still. That being said, while this film doesn’t come anywhere close to capturing the magic of the first film and it doesn’t necessarily have some of the appeal of the second one, Jurassic Park III is still a fun ride that actually manages to be slightly more enjoyable in spite of itself.
